


Musings of a Drake

by EnemyMine



Series: Wants, needs and realities [5]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Episode: s04e17 Skeletons, POV Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 18:56:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8338972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnemyMine/pseuds/EnemyMine
Summary: While housing some interesting guests, Donald "Ducky" Mallard follows his train of thought to the aftermath of Tony's reassignment.





	

It was a most peculiar case. The like, Donald Mallard – “Ducky” to most - must admit, of which he had not yet encountered.  
Of course he had, much to his personal displeasure, the misfortune of having to exhume some of his guests to be. But never in his years as medical examiner had he seen it done in, dare he say it, such a spectacular fashion.

To separate the various bodies was apart from the skeletal remains near impossible in that late stages of decomposition. Whatever had possessed him to misinform the agents on scene in calling it “effluvium”, when he of course was fully aware that it was not a matter of shed hair or foul-smelling vapor. He wondered where his mind had been.  
If young Anthony was here, he would by now have called him out on it. Alas, the boy had left ship – so to speak – and found a new passage to wherever he needed to be. Which was decidedly not here!

Abair bùrach!* 

Anthony's reassignment had left affairs in a state of chaos much like this poor souls, who where currently residents on his tables. Not that it was as easily foreseeable as the misfortunate outcome of that American “police action” in Vietnam for example. And he would know a thing or two about that from personal experience. Though he was still a member of Her Majesties Royal Army Medical Corps at that time.  
Not that Ducky didn't have his good times too, while roaming Saigon for a little R&R. He had the most interesting times researching the properties of certain “weeds”. For purely medical purposes of course.

  


“Where was I?” Ducky addressed the meat puzzle in front of him. Actually it was more of a bone puzzle, but semantics. The former mess of at least five different skeletal remains, should Abigail's DNA analysis not prove otherwise, that were his current guests and only listeners at this hour.  
Mister Palmer had another seminar to attend to further his education while the younger – and newer - members of the MCRT were following up leads as to how they came to be his guests. Their fearless leader, Jethro, was about to lose that moniker, as Ducky's intelligence from the upper floor knew to report.  
The formidable Colonel Mann had caught up with him after a bit of a conundrum about the pursuit of a romantical entanglement – or so Ducky had heard - and had haggled a joint investigation with the present head of the agency, Acting Director Craig. Details were sadly lacking since it was not Anthony's keen eye for minutia on which he had to rely on nowadays.

  


“Ah, yes, young Anthony!” The Doctor addressed his deceased patients again.  
“Nobody is quite like him. A detail that many have missed. To my eternal shame I have to consider myself among those buffoons.”  
  
And hadn't that been an eye-opening experience, when he had discovered the lack of attention he had offered the former Second of Team Gibbs. Instead he had wallowed in his self-pity of perceived abandonment due to the actions of his old friend Jethro. When in fact he should have known better and deep within himself had known better.  
It was not, after all, that he had only known Jethro and Anthony, as well as the peculiar dynamic those two had build over the years, for a short amount of time. No, he considered himself lucky to be able to call himself Jethro's oldest friend, who had not served with the former Marine, and had thought himself at least somewhat of a confidant to the mercurial wonder and eternal enigma that was Anthony.  
As such Ducky should have realized the strain put upon the young man after being abandoned with barely as much as a “By your leave” and thrust into the position of Team Leader. Not that Anthony was not capable of filling those rather big shoes. If anyone was able to lead the MCRT at the drop of the proverbial hat it was the former Detective!  
Hadn't the records shown that he had done just that? No matter the case, Anthony still never let the solve rates drop. In retrospect Ducky could acknowledge that it had been in fact mostly Anthony. Young Timothy and Officer David just were not investigators per se.  
  
Oh, under his tutelage, Timothy had shaped up pretty well for a while, but he was still a far cry from what Anthony had once believed him to be possible. Ducky still remembered fondly the months of silent discussions between Jethro and his Second about the possibility of transferring the Junior Agent to headquarters and the subtle ways Anthony had used cases and technical support to practically make it happen anyway.  
Never in all his years had Ducky seen someone who had been able to manipulate his old friend in such underhanded ways without the later being the wiser until after the fact. But then the reverse was true as well. 

It wasn't until after Anthony had left for greener pastures and Timothy's failings had come to light, that Ducky had seen the way Jethro had manipulated the man during those last two weeks. The way he had favored Ziva and belittled her Team Leader at that time, taking the reigns from him without consideration for the intricacies of inter-agency politics and the fall-out of his unlawful involvement. Jethro had never been much for politics, true, but if he had been in his right mind, he would have referred Officer David to one of his famous rules.  
  
“Which was it? I think it was rule 15. 'Always work as a team.' Albeit another one might have applied, but who am I to keep track of those details,” he said as he bowed lower to inspect an incision made near the right wrist. That should be Jane Doe No. 3's wrist, pending identification.  
“Very precise cuts. I wonder, if the team has already encountered someone with anatomical knowledge in their investigation...”

The old man continued his musings while he immersed himself in the tedious tasks which came with his chosen profession. There wouldn't be hovering thoughts about a team that had completely unraveled in just a few short months, a team leader who prowled like an angry lion in a cage and the family they have all been only a year prior for the longest time.  
  
When his assistant Mr Palmer returned from his tutorial and in his youthful exuberance disclosed the lessons learned today, including a new method Ducky had not yet heard off, his thoughts returned for the briefest of moments, when he pondered: “Maybe very soon it shall be time for the next generation to take over.”

**Author's Note:**

> * according to a short Google search this should be Gaelic for "What a chaos/mess!"
> 
> I have taken my sweet time to come back to writing the next installment. There is always the real life to consider and I have also struggled long and hard with finding a voice that sounded even remotely like our beloved Ducky. My apologies for I have surely failed. Noone rambles quite as exquisitively as him.


End file.
